


Refraction

by EntreNous



Series: Like Someone in Love: Pinto Ficlets [4]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Accidents, Acquired Synesthesia, M/M, Stand Alone, Synesthesia, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 01:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8081500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EntreNous/pseuds/EntreNous
Summary: An accident forces Chris into a change of direction.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Another ficlet from the First Line Fic Meme over [at my tumblr](http://entrenous88.tumblr.com/); the prompt is the same as the first sentence of this story.

“Why does everything suddenly taste like blue?” Chris asks as soon as he opens his eyes.

“Oh my god,” Zach says faintly. He’s the first person Chris sees, hovering above him, wearing the face that means he’s furious and very, very scared. But Chris only notices that abstractly, because Zach’s surrounded by a haze of light that’s building to a crescendo of bird songs. 

“Chris, listen to me,” Zach says thickly. “I want you to lie very still, okay?” He’s grasping a hand between his own, and it’s only after the smooth bright taste in Chris’s mouth turns sour that he realizes that it’s his hand Zach is holding. 

Chris tries to shake his head, but the way Zach’s eyes keep darting over him, he’s not sure if he notices. So he tells him slowly, so Zach will understand, “But I can’t hear you over the light, all those Black Phoebes together.”

“Jesus fuck – how are we coming on that ambulance?” Zach calls over his shoulder. 

Someone answers him, but the voice goes thick and raspy, and it makes cold creep up Chris’s spine. 

“Wait, no,” Chris mutters. He tries to close his eyes again, to get a reset so everything will click back to normal on the dial. But pain blooms acrid all at once, makes his teeth clench, and in that moment he can feel Zach’s fingers, shaking and sweaty, threading through his own. 

“You keep those eyes open, you asshole,” Zach tells him, the words stretching out, a string of putty about to fray. “The goddamn EMTs will get here any second, and you better –”

 _It’s okay, it’s all quiet now_ , Chris presses into Zach’s hands with feather light touches. He can hear his eyelashes flutter as the light finally dims, slow motion bird wings flapping, reshaping the air.


End file.
